Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1887-06-13
QUEENS OF THE DUDES.
Something About Reigning Favorites OF
the Footlights.

the Footlights.
Especial Correspondence
New YORK, June g.
That peculiar class of humanity who have,
in different ages, been known as "beaux,"
abucks," "fops," "swells," and down to our
own darling dudes, have at all times had some
common object of alteration toward whom
the eyes of all were turned and whose capri
cious favor all strove to obtain. The dude
of the middle ages was, to be sure, very
different creature from the dude of to-day,
but in the knightly chronicles Of Froissart we
read how the medieval swell used to get his
gilded armor all mussed up and risk his own
precious neck in the Journeys in honor of the
queen of youth and beauty.
| The reign of each of these queens has been
short and has left but small impress upon the
history of the world, but each in her time
was, no doubt, the all absorbing object Of the
alteration of the jeunesse doree Of her age, as
our present queens of the dudes are to-day,
but when her brief reign was over she did not
pass into history. She was forgotten. AIDE
laide Nelson is but a name to one younger
generation of play goers as Lillian Russell
and Pauline Hall will be to the next. For
the queens of the dudes have for the last CEN
fury been divinities of the footlights, and ii
is in the lime lights glare that we must look
for tile queens Of dudedom of to-day.
Lillian Russell was the first upon whom the
regal title was bestowed by the press, and she
deserved it, too, for young New York went
mad over her baby face and pretty ways; but
Lillian is getting in the sere and yellow now,
and holds her scepter with faltering grip :
besides she is growing fat, and fat queen is
out Of the question. Born in Clinton, Ia, in
December, 1851, she made her first appear
ance as a violinist in Chicago. When she
| came to New York q little later she decided
| to give up the violin and trust for success to
her face, which was remarkably pretty, and
| her voice, which was only pretty and
| pleasing. Her name at that time was Helen
Louise Leonard, and she was christened Lii
! liam Russell by Tony Pastor because the COM
| bination Of as" in the name looked we'll on
| three sheet poster. While at Tony PASTOR
she was discovered by Mr.. E. f. Rice
who has probably employed more
pretty girls than any other man
i'll the theatrical business. Once with him
she became the furore. Hundreds of dollars
worth of flowers were sent to her almost
every night She was made queen of the
| dudes without dissenting voice. Then hel
marital idiosyncrasies began to exhibit them
selves and everybody is familiar with her
more recent history.
AauiihO inAh VIZ VIC AeAt SUdR0 DeauGy
take dudedom by storm. She made her first
appearance in Rice's Evangeine company in
the "front row" of the chorus She is a Gin
cinnati girl, from "over the Rhine" and her
| real name is, or was, Pauline Schmidtgall
| She is now, in the eyes of the law and to the
| favored ones who have the honor of her &C
| quaintance, Mrs. White. She is always fore
| most in any effort to assist unfortunate
members of the profession. Personally she
! is jolly and unaffected. She has studied hard
during the past few years, and has improved
wonderfully both in singing and acting.
Isabella Urquhart is, from purely artistic
standpoint, perhaps the most beautiful of
any who have held the scepter oyer New
York dudedom. With face and figure like
Greek statue her classical outlines caught
the popular fancy at once. She still reigns,
and by no means small number of theatre
| goers enthusiastically refer to her as the most
| beautiful woman on the STAGE She, how
ever, values her kingdom but lightly, and de-
| votes herself to study, her anlul.lon being
conferred in her art, She made her first ap-
pearance at the Standard theatre, under
Hendersons management, and since has
played opposite to Pauline Hall at the Casino
Miss Urquhart is one of the cold and reserved
beauties, and keeps her admirers at a very
respectful distance. She is one of the few
dude queens who have brains as well as
beauty. The breath of scandal has never
tainted her reputation, and this is possibly
| the reason why we have not seen more of her
name in the papers.
! Marie Jansen is chubby, roly poly, iollv
creature, who made her first appearance with
Ed. Rice in Boston some four or five wears
ago. She then came to New York and took
the dudes by storm by her singing of "Oh,
Mamma" in the Black Hussar. Wherever
she went she was the idol of the dude coptin
gent. Now she i, at the Casino and is recog
nized as the especial pet of the gided youth.
who compose the Seventh regiment
Mrs. Langtry can hardly be enrolled in this
category among the dude queens, for, though
the jeunesse doree went crazy over her for a
time, she selected her own particular dud.
early in her career and stuck to him tbrourb
thick and thin. 1t is pretty definitely settle.
now that she will marry Fred. Gebbarlt
soon as she can procure divorce from he.
husband. Her beauty has so often been Il
scribed that people who see her are general
disappointed. 1t consists mainly in a oue.nt
carriage and a marvellous complexion add,
to certain charm of manner which womb
convince blind man that she must be lovely
In addition to those have mentioned. thai.
have been number of lesser queens VIII.
nave risen, reigned over their little king
doms and relapsed into obscurity. Beauty !,
| the prime factor in the title of queensbin an.
it Is no easy matter to preserve that qualify
with the late hours, wine suppers and biyI
tension living which successful, reicninp over
iudedom requires Stage beauties are much
more careful of their figures and conplexons
than society bellies The majority of them
have regular system. which may not be nm.
interesting to some of my fair readers To
begin with, If the stage beauty goes to had
late she sleeps late, for there is nothing more
destructive to feminine good looks than lach
of sleep. Immediately upon rising she takes
a cool bath, not the cold s.tubn Of
our English cousins, for that tends tn
make the skin too ruddy. but inst
enough hot water in the bath to take the chill
off. Then after being rubbed down she ears
light breakfast of fruit and oat mea, In
the morning she takes just enough exercise 70
keep the flesh from, becoming flabbv, no,
'nough to make it muscular. howavar
Lunch is another light meal of frut and
grain food. Fencing and boxing are nrac.
ticed to keep the joints supple, and freouent
Turkish baths preserve the skin i'm good con.
dition Some cover the face with paste of
Oat meal to Written the comr,a~;o. -,